Happy Housewarming

I seem to be at that stage in life where everyone is buying houses. Sign of the times when you hit 30, I suppose. It's better than everyone being pregnant. I know what to do with houses and I am excellent at helping paint, decorate, buy cushions and haul lots of crap to the tip (I've had a lot of recent practice). I can also be relied upon to be v. enthusiastic about decor schemes and all things house. Babies I have zero idea what to do with. The whole process baffles me. I once distinguished myself by writing "Have a good baby!" in a card for a colleague about to go off on maternity leave...

However I think you'll agree it is much easier to buy a present for a baby than a house. All cute tiny things are automatically great so you're never short of options. I find housewarming presents much more tricky - trying to judge other people's taste in homeware is a lot more fraught than picking clothes, jewellery and the like. Hopefully you know their taste in most things but if there's a whole new house to decorate, you don't always know what look they're going for. There's nothing worse than landing someone with that deeply misjudged horrible present that they despise but have to hide in a cupboard and get out when you're due to visit. *shudders*  I don't ever want to be that sort of giftgiver. Especially not when all my pals did so well buying me lovely (green) things for my place!

The obvious place to turn is somewhere like Not On The High Street but they're a smidgen predictable for my tastes. I prefer sites like Etsy and Uncommon Goods (especially as the latter has a cracking sustainability policy which you can read about here) for the personalised touch and can merrily spend hours browsing through random things I've never have discovered otherwise. The more mainstream shops shouldn't be left out though - I'm a total convert to The Range (shop in store btw - their online CS is pretty dire) and have you been in Asda or Matalan recently? Woodland animals ahoy!

So what have I been buying/drooling over recently?

You don't know how hard I wish I'd known about this mixtape doormat back when my brother and his wife last moved house! (It's customisable, which is a good job, cos their surname isn't Smith).

These coasters are on order for a Game of Thrones-loving pal of mine. Not too in-your-face.

I don't know where these little bear tumblers from Asda will end up but they were too cute not to buy! Someone will love them.

Is it weird to buy someone a clock as a housewarming gift? It probably is. But it's so lovely! Told you The Range were great at the mo.


I think I'm fighting (and losing) the age-old battle of buying things you secretly want for yourself. Must...resist...

Whilst I'm talking house, it occurs to me that although I moved in nearly a year ago, I never did do any celebratory welcome-to-the-new-abode posts. I've got this week off work and am attacking all those pesky little DIY jobs that I was too exhausted/lazy to do after moving in. It may well be ready to take some photos of by the end of the week!


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The House: The Boudoir

I am muchly enjoying the new place. It's slightly odd wrapping my head around the fact that I can merrily spread my stuff all over the house rather than having to wedge everything into my bedroom, but I'm coping ok with that. Ha! Who'd have thought I needed encouragement to fling belongings everywhere?

Now that everything doesn't have to live in my room, I'm trying to keep it less cluttered and more of a soothing space. A boudoir, if you like. The decluttering isn't going fantastically well and it's still really messy, hence the lack of stylish wide-angle interiors shots. The basic things are in place though!



I gave the bedside table a spruce up last year and although it's not a match with the shade of green of the wallpaper, it tones rather nicely. We don't want too much matchy matchy, do we? The initial lamp was from Out There Interiors but I don't think they stock them any more.




The bedding and clock are both from Asda who are doing some seriously good homeware at the moment. Bargainous prices too! It looks as if they've changed the clock design slightly but the duvet set is very much still available.



This gorgeous snuggly throw is c/o The French Bedroom Company. My little house is quite toasty warm anyway but there's something lovely about having a super soft, beautiful blanket at the end of the bed when some extra warmth and comfort is needed.



I love toile. Like, an awful lot. Surprisingly hard to find in green though - red and blue are loads more common. I tracked this wallpaper down on Direct Wallpaper.



Not gonna lie. I had a lot of fun searching for knobs on ebay. I was in mild despair until I hit upon a seller called The Barrister's Horse (excellent name!) and found approx 957685 different styles of amazing knobs. I pretty much wanted all of them but these Parisian ones were perfect for the boudoir, especially as the black matches the all the metalwork on the bed frame and hat stand.



Hat stand! Or should that be bag stand? It was an ebay purchase about four years ago and now I've got the room settled and decided that there's space for another one, I can't find the same flipping style anywhere. Gahhhh. Might have to go for a mismatched approach.



This bedside table was another little painting project. I bought it for £5 in a fit of frivolity after signing the contracts for the house and it was a gruesome shade of pink. I was gonna try and recover the fabric part but I don't think I can get it off without ruining the trim. It's still vaguely gruesome but it kinda works, doesn't it?

Also, please admire the luxurious boudoir carpet. Turns out it's very hard to pick a colour that matches white woodwork and that particular wallpaper. The bloke in the carpet shop took pity on my aimless wandering around and suggested this one. I hadn't considered grey at all but it looks lovely.



Books, glorious books.

I'll do the library next. It's nearly sorted!

Some Vintage Shopping

Whoops!

I believe I promised you all some photos of my new vintage treasures at the end of my last blog post. Um. That was a while ago. Sorry! I am as busy as a very busy bee at the moment.

Here they finally are though. Behold their patterned glory:

Fab dress! My mission to look like a walking cushion continues.

Beautiful maxi skirt.

And a really bonkers jacket. I love it.  It was produced with a flourish and a cry of "It's got your name on it!"  It so has.

I got all these beauties from Vix, who had the most amazing array of vintage clothes and goodies on her stall. I should probably point out that she (being an ace vintage seller) actually washes and looks after all her stock really well. I quite often pick up stuff from charity and vintage shops that clearly haven't been looked after and have to shove them straight in the wash but that wasn't the case with these! I just hung them on the washing line for photo purposes.


Did I buy anything that wasn't clothes? You bet I did! Pretties for me:

And pretties for the house:

I had very little idea of what I wanted in there when I first started thinking about decorating. I keep buying retro things for it though and I have a vague suspicion it'll end up looking a little bit junk-shoppish. Oh well! I never claimed to be a modern, minimalist type.